The State Anthem of the Republic of Belarus, better known as "We Belarusians", is the national anthem of Belarus. It was originally written in the 1940s and adopted in 1955 for use in the Belarusian Soviet Socialist Republic. The music of the Belarusian SSR anthem was composed by Niescier Sakałowski and the lyrics were written by Michas Klimkovič. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the music composed by Sakalowski was kept and the lyrics were discarded. New lyrics, which were written by Klimkovič and Uładzimir Karyzna, were adopted by a presidential decree issued on 2 July 2002.
The national emblem of Belarus features a ribbon in the colors of the national flag, a silhouette of Belarus, wheat ears and a red star. It is sometimes referred to as the coat of arms of Belarus, although in heraldic terms this is inaccurate as the emblem does not respect the rules of conventional heraldry. The emblem is an allusion to one that was used by the Byelorussian SSR, designed by Ivan Dubasov in 1950, with the biggest change being a replacement of the Communist hammer and sickle with a silhouette of Belarus. The Belarusian name is Dziaržaŭny hierb Respubliki Biełaruś, and the name in Russian is Gosudarstvennyĭ gerb Respubliki Belarusʹ.
The Belarusian Popular Front "Revival" was a social and political movement in Belarus in the late 1980s and 1990s whose goals were national revival of Belarus, its democratization and independence from the Soviet Union. Its leader was Zianon Pazniak. It was similar to the Popular Fronts of Latvia and Estonia, and the Sąjūdis movement in Lithuania.
A four-question referendum was held in Belarus on 14 May 1995, alongside parliamentary elections. The four issues were the possibility of giving the Russian language equal status with Belarusian, whether new national symbols should be adopted, whether there should be economic integration with Russia and changes to the constitution that would allow early elections if Parliament systematically violated the constitution. According to official results, all four were approved by at least three-quarters of voters, with a turnout of 64.8%.
Maksim Adamavich Bahdanovich was a Belarusian poet, journalist, translator, literary critic and historian of literature. He is considered one of the founders of the modern Belarusian literature.
The Belarusian opposition consists of groups and individuals in Belarus seeking to challenge, from 1988 to 1991, the authorities of Soviet Belarus, and since 1995, the leader of the country Alexander Lukashenko, whom supporters of the movement often consider to be a dictator. Supporters of the movement tend to call for a parliamentary democracy based on a Western model, with freedom of speech and political and religious pluralism.
Eduard Anatolievič Lobaŭ was a Belarusian activist associated with the Young Front. He was imprisoned by the government of Belarus for his protest activities. Amnesty International considered him a prisoner of conscience.
Belarusians in Ukraine are the third biggest minority after Russians. Unlike many other ethnic groups, Belarusians do not have any particular concentration in the country, but spread out relatively evenly across all regions.
Belarusian nationalism refers to the belief that Belarusians should constitute an independent nation. Belarusian nationalism began emerging in the mid-19th century, during the January Uprising against the Russian Empire. Belarus first declared independence in 1917 as the Belarusian Democratic Republic, but was subsequently invaded and annexed by the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic in 1918, becoming part of the Soviet Union. Belarusian nationalists both collaborated with and fought against Nazi Germany during World War II, and protested for the independence of Belarus during the late 1980s and early 1990s.
The Monument to Belarusians who died for Ukraine in Kyiv is the memorial sign dedicated to the Belarusians who died during the events at Euromaidan and Russian-Ukrainian war. The memorial was opened on March 28, 2016. It is located on the building number 22 on the Belarusian street in Kyiv.
Pahonia is a Belarusian patriotic song based on the eponymous poem by Maksim Bahdanovič.
Mikola Jakaŭlievič Ravienski was a Belarusian composer, conductor and music critic who authored music for the famous hymn Mahutny Boža.
Tactical Group "Belarus" is a group of volunteers from Belarus who were involved in the Russo-Ukrainian War's Donbas theater. They fought on the side of Ukraine, first as part of the Right Sector Ukrainian Volunteer Corps, and later as part of various formations of the Ukrainian volunteer battalions and the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
Belarus, a close ally of Russia, has supported its eastern neighbour in the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Before the start of the offensive, Belarus allowed the Russian Armed Forces to perform weeks-long military drills on its territory; however, the Russian troops did not exit the country after they were supposed to finish. Belarus allowed Russia to stage part of the invasion from its territory, giving Russia the shortest possible land route to Ukraine's capital, Kyiv. However, these forces withdrew within two months, thus ceasing land-based military operations originating from Belarus and resulting in the recapture of the Ukrainian side of the border region by Ukraine. Despite this, the situation along the border remains tense, with Ukraine closing the border checkpoints leading into Belarus, bar special cases.
The Russo-Ukrainian War has seen foreign volunteers participate on both sides of the conflict. Most foreign fighters joined the conflict during one of two waves. The first wave happened from 2014 to 2019 during the War in the Donbas and consisted of approximately 17,241 foreign fighters. The second wave is considered by researchers to have been much larger and began in 2022 after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The Kastuś Kalinoŭski Regiment, formerly the Kastuś Kalinoŭski Battalion until May 2022 is a group of Belarusian opposition volunteers, which was formed to defend Ukraine against the Russian invasion in 2022.
Aliaksiej Mikalajevič Skoblia, nom de guerre "Tur", was a Belarusian soldier who was deputy commander of the Kastuś Kalinoŭski Battalion under the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Skoblia died defending Kyiv from advancing Russian troops during the Battle of Kyiv in the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. He was posthumously conferred the title of Hero of Ukraine by President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
The white-red-white flag is a historical flag used by the Belarusian Democratic Republic in 1918 before Western Belarus was occupied by the Second Polish Republic and Eastern Belarus was occupied by the Bolsheviks. The flag was then used by the Belarusian national movement in Western Belarus followed by widespread unofficial use during the German occupation of Belarus between 1941 and 1944, and again after it regained its independence in 1991 until the 1995 referendum.
The Pahonia Regiment was a group of Belarusian opposition volunteers, which was formed to defend Ukraine against the 2022 Russian invasion.
The Pahonia Detachment was a formation of the Ukrainian Ground Forces.
